Gastric impaction: an important health and welfare issue of growing ostriches

Ostrich farming serves as a source for meat, feathers, skin, eggs, and oil. In general, ostriches are hardy birds that can resist a wide range of climatic harshness and some diseases. However, musculoskeletal and digestive complications, including the gastric impaction, remain the major cause of mortality. The gastrointestinal impaction alone is responsible for 30 – 46% of spontaneous deaths in growing ostriches. The literature review of 21 publications on this subject has shown that 90% of these incidents happen during first six months of life. The aetiology of this problem is mostly stress and behaviour-related gorging of feed and picking on non-feeding materials such as stone, sand, wood pieces, plastic, glass, and metallic objects. Conservative therapy or surgical approaches show good results with almost 70 to 100% recovery depending upon the clinical presentation and timely diagnosis. Overall, this literature review describes impaction in farmed ostriches, along with diagnosis, treatment, and control and preventive measures. This information will help stakeholders understand the gastrointestinal impaction in ratites to better manage this issue, reduce economic losses, and improve welfare of the birds.